Developing A Timeline For Intelligent Building Project

The timeline for a smart building project should include design, implementation, and testing phases. If an intelligent building project has several initiatives, it is important to create a timeline that takes into account all of the initiatives that are being pursued. This allows dependencies to be created and proper resources to be allocated. The project plan should include all of the work results that have been created thus far - description, goals, KPIs, prerequisites, timeline and budget - as well as required resources, interdependencies and ROI.

Here again, these portions of the planning stage will be most meaningful when they consider near-term, reasonably sized projects in great detail, but also consider the strategic vision in high-level detail. For example, the vision might contain annual completion targets to reach the end goal in a decade, while the first project to seek approval from management must include sufficient detail to satisfy management scrutiny and get the green light.

Armed with well-defined goals, measured by meaningful KPIs, documented in a project plan, along with a thoughtful timeline and a realistic budget, it is now time to seek approval to proceed. At this point, the project champion in the C-suite (or similar high-level sponsor or supporter) is an invaluable resource to review the plan, provide feedback, and assist in finding an appropriate audience with necessary stakeholders. Remember that if this is an initial effort, the plan and budget should be rather modest to allow for easy wins. Therefore, the request is usually best presented very succinctly, with supporting details included as attachments or appendices. The third-party consultant or integrator should have previous experiences to draw upon to help craft a proposal that speaks to all stakeholders.

This quick read is from Kurt Karnatz, president, Robert Knight, senior associate, and Rick Szcodronski, a senior associate, technology consulting, with Environmental Systems Design, Inc. Read more from them about smart buildings.